Is this Joey Votto’s last season as a Red?

Joey Votto is one strange cat. He’s also one of the greatest Reds hitters of all time. He’s certainly the greatest Reds hitter of my lifetime. The guy’s contract is a steal – he’s clearly going to perform until the end of it. He should be kept around Cincinnati until the day he hangs the cleats up, much the way former Kentucky Derby winners are kept at a special stable on display until they go to equestrian Heaven.

Just as we’ve gotten comfortable and want to see Votto play forever in a Reds uniform; we have this sneaking suspicion. We have a feeling that in the offseason, the Reds are going to find a taker for Votto for ten cents on the dollar and shed his big contract for a few B-level prospects.

This would follow suit with the moribund, cheap Reds. You have one guy who is truly worth paying to see every night. The one guy who makes you want to buy a ticket and go out to the ballpark with what is going to be a few more years of miserable losing and failed experiments all over (Dilson Herrera hasn’t even played this year, for instance), and they’re gonna deal the guy.

You heard it here first. It’s going to suck. We’re going to rip them. Joey Votto is an awesome hitter. Beyond awesome. He should retire a Red.